BREAKING

Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey resigned Thursday in a blistering public letter that accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves of endangering the country’s security, leaving the prime minister facing the most serious crisis of his premiership.

“You have been unable and the Treasury has been unwilling to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats,” Healey wrote in his resignation letter. “I would not be able to accept a Dip settlement that does not give our forces the resources they need. I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your defence secretary.”

Dan Jarvis, the security minister, was named as Healey’s successor Thursday evening. Armed Forces Minister Al Carns and Healey’s two parliamentary aides also quit, with Carns writing: “We need a new way of governing and we need it now.”

The Spending Gap Healey Couldn’t Accept

Healey revealed the government was planning to raise defence spending by only 0.08 of a percentage point of GDP between next year and 2030 — from 2.6% to 2.68%. He argued Britain must reach 3% of GDP by 2030 to meet the threat picture, a position backed by the country’s senior military commanders.

The timing is acutely uncomfortable for Starmer. He is due to meet G7 allies in France next week and attend a NATO summit in Ankara in weeks, where Donald Trump will also be present — leaving the prime minister to explain to allied leaders why his own defence secretary believed he was not doing enough to keep Britain safe.

Starmer insisted the Defence Investment Plan (Dip) would be funded properly and said significant reallocations from other Whitehall budgets had already been required. “Strong public finances are part of what keeps us safe — irresponsible borrowing only puts that at risk,” he said in a written response.

Intelligence Warnings and a Political ‚Perfect Storm‛

Healey’s resignation comes weeks after Starmer himself warned publicly that UK intelligence had indicated Russia could attack a NATO country as early as 2030 — a scenario that makes the defence spending debate far more than an internal budgetary argument.

Retired General Richard Barrons, one of three independent authors of last year’s strategic defence review, said the exercise had concluded Britain now faced a more dangerous world and that the armed forces and wider society “are in poor shape to deal with that.”

Senior Labour MPs, some of them cabinet ministers, already believe Starmer is on borrowed time — with the potential return of Andy Burnham after the Makerfield by-election next week adding to the pressure. “This just makes the end more certain,” one minister told the Guardian.

What Happens Next

The Dip had been scheduled for publication on Thursday. Its delay — and the political fallout from Healey’s resignation — leaves Britain’s defence policy in limbo at a moment of heightened European insecurity. Dan Jarvis inherits a department facing growing international threats, a military under strain, and a funding dispute that has now exploded into the open.

Starmer must now navigate a three-front crisis: shoring up his own authority ahead of the G7 and NATO summits, calming restless Labour MPs, and demonstrating to sceptical allies that Britain remains a reliable defence partner — all while the Dip remains unpublished and the defence debate shows no sign of abating.